People v. Messervy

California Court of Appeal Nov 12, 1985 No. B009967Published

Before: Gilbert, Stone, Abbe

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Holding. The court held that aerial surveillance of an open field by police helicopter at an altitude of approximately 150 feet does not violate the Fourth Amendment, as there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in such areas.

Issues

Does aerial observation of marijuana plants in an open field from a helicopter at 150 feet violate the Fourth Amendment?
Did the officers have probable cause to arrest the defendant based on the observed circumstances?

Disposition. affirmed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“the flight of a police helicopter, over an open field at an altitude of approximately 150 feet, does not constitute a violation of Messervy’s Fourth Amendment rights.”

“an individual has no legitimate expectation that open fields will remain free from warrantless intrusion by government officers.”

Opinion

GILBERT, J.

Martin Alden Messervy appeals his conviction for unlawful cultivation of marijuana. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11358.)

We affirm the denial of his motion to suppress under Penal Code section 1538.5, and hold that the flight of a police helicopter, over an open field at an altitude of approximately 150 feet, does not constitute a violation of Messervy’s Fourth Amendment rights.

Facts

Ventura Sheriff’s Deputy Carpenter received information from a citizen that marijuana was being grown approximately six miles up the Quatal Canyon Road off Highway 33. Carpenter then looked for the marijuana by flying over Quatal Canyon as a passenger in a helicopter.

While the helicopter was flying back and forth at an altitude of about 150 feet, Carpenter saw 10 to 15 marijuana plants surrounded by white buckets. A road led from the marijuana to a hill, on the other side of which was a trailer. Carpenter testified the trailer was between “a quarter and a half mile away” from the marijuana plants, and was the closest structure to the mar

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ijuana. He described the trailer as being “like a single wide mobile home-type trailer.”

Carpenter also saw two people in front of the trailer loading boxes into the trunk of a car. He thought that the items being loaded in the car might have been weight scales, bags, or even marijuana itself.

When the two men got in the car and drove off, the helicopter gave chase. After one unsuccessful attempt to stop the car, the officers finally succeeded in stopping it and apprehended the two men, Messervy and his brother-in-law.

Carpenter testified that he believed the men in the car were involved in the cultivation of marijuana because of “the location of the marijuana in proximity to the trailer, the road going past the tank and around to the trailer, the people putting the items in a hurried fashion into the car and then driving out, . . .’’He stated the marijuana was being grown on “lease land” and was visible from a surface road maintained by the forestry department.

People v. Messervy

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GILBERT, J.

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